


Nature vs. Nurture

by ToTillAGarden



Series: Davenport Week [2]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, davenport week, im so tired i can crack my wrist at will guys, merle's only in there briefly but he says stuff so i tagged him, the ocs are davenports family!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2017-10-03
Packaged: 2019-01-08 12:34:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12254484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToTillAGarden/pseuds/ToTillAGarden
Summary: Davenport tried, for the longest time, to separate himself from his family's mission - but eventually, it couldn't help but find him.





	Nature vs. Nurture

**Author's Note:**

> This is for day 2 - I'm late again, as usual, but I get to sleep in tonight~
> 
> The theme was early life/home, and I guess I picked the former? Though that's up for interpretation if you ask me.  
> I actually thought of this one on the spot too, which I would be impressed with if my wrist didn't hurt so much from typing by now!
> 
> Anyways, I've got little to say - I'll see you tomorrow with another fic!  
> Your feedback motivates me, so leave that if you can <3

“But what if I don’t want to be an astronaut?”  
His mother ruffled his hair. “What do you mean, sweetheart?”  
“I know Dad’s an astrophysisit -“  
“You said it wrong again!” His sister’s voice echoed in from the other room - she always heard him, somehow - and their mother chided her in return.  
“Delilah, now’s not the time!”  
Davenport, used to this, continued. “And you’re the boss of all of the-“ He thought about it before saying it. “As-tro-phys-i-cists.”  
“You got that right.”  
“And Delilah’s training with the fancy computers-“  
Delilah piped up again with an, “It’s called a software engineer, Dav!”  
“And everyone says I’m going to be the best pilot ever… But I wanna pick what I wanna do!”  
She laughed, tucking the blanket over his head. “So what is it you want to be?”  
He thought about it for a minute. “I want to be a pirate. But not like a mean one, like in the movies. Like a good one, who helps animals get out of fishing nets and tracks killer whales and then when I save them from the bad guys they’ll take me to their buried treasure.”  
“There’s a fancy name for that too, you know.”  
He beamed. “Really?”  
She nodded. “It’s called a marine biologist.”  
“Marine bilologist?”  
She laughed. “Close enough.”

~~~

“I’ve been watching my parents and sister do their work for years, and no matter how far or how quickly they’ve sent things into space, they’ve never seemed to make a breakthrough.” Davenport was used to giving this speech at this point; having a free pass to get accepted to the Institute was something most kids dreamed of, and giving that up seemed unthinkable to anyone who wasn’t Davenport himself. “And I love space, don’t get me wrong - it’s vast and full of opportunity - but astronomy was my whole _life_ growing up. I know more about it than most of the students at the Institute, and I want to try something else.” He sighed. “There’s so much not only on this plane but also on this planet that we haven’t explored at all - so why jump towards something we can’t reach when there’s so much potential right under our noses?”  
The dwarf - his new friend Merle - looked up at him. “I think I get ya, Dav.” He laughed. “Too many big words for me, but sticking to nature is good enough for the both of us.”  
Davenport couldn’t help but laugh too. “I can’t help but take astrophysics on the side, though - it’s easy for me - and the Institute is right next door, so who knows? I might end up going back someday. I just like being on a boat, to be honest - the feeling of the wind on my face, and the ocean air, and getting to go in the water - but the thought of knowing that I’m going to be supporting and connecting with living things is a comforting one.”  
Merle nodded. “Hey, finding your own path takes time. You have your safety net, and that’s a great thing to use if you need it, but you’re trying out what you love.” He paused, checked his clock, and got up from his chair, turning to leave with an “I’ll see you later, right?”  
“Unless you’ve forgotten we have bio together, yeah.”

~~~

“Dav?”  
His stone of Farspeech echoed the message from across his desk.  
“I know it’s exams time and I’ve bothered you enough with groceries and shit but I promise it’s urgent this time.”  
He picked it up, shut it off, and frowned. He moved into his own apartment just so his family wouldn’t bother him, but he couldn’t go a day without his stone ringing, and it kind of pissed him off at this point.  
It rung back on soon after he did that, though - classic Delilah, hacking into the system just to force the stone on - and her voice, more rushed and worried this time, echoed through the room again. “Davenport if you won’t listen to me at least close your books and listen to the news or like, open your window, something fell in the ocean and it’s way too bright to be a comet and we can’t tell if it’s some sort of bomb? And I was going to ask for your help anyway but Dad and his new intern - you know, the one with the jeans? - triangulated the coordinates of its location and I’ve know you’ve done research around that area and please, this could be what we’ve been waiting for, just go get your tiny ass boat and let’s get to this thing before anyone else does.”  
He sighed. “This better not be a prank.”  
“It isn’t, I swear!”  
“Okay, I’ll be at the pier in half an hour, but don’t show up early then complain.”  
“Fiiiiine.”  
“And if it’s something cool you have to get Mom to let me on the research team!”  
“If she _really_ made you double major, I don’t have to help you to convince her to let you use that extra degree.”  
“I’d say you have a point, but you’re also just being lazy.”  
“Fair.”

~~~

“Davy, this could be _it.”_ His dad brought him into the lab a few days after the family recovered what they later called the Light of Creation. “This could power what’s going to get us across the planes.”  
“Wait.” Davenport stopped him. “I know it’s powerful. I can see that much. But what exactly _is_ it?”  
The older gnome laughed. “We’re working on that. The structure itself seems to be made of trillions of little threads of magic, but you can’t use it to channel a spell on its own. The only way we’ve gotten it to produce anything but light is to use it to fuel existing things, like the engine of your boat.”  
Davenport’s mind flashed back to that day - how, after retrieving the Light, his ship’s engine just stopped functioning, and while it took him two minutes to find the problem he didn’t have the right supplies to fix it, or to get them home, and how somehow, when they were discussing it amongst themselves, the light weaved its way into the engine and the ship started moving again. He thought about that, for a moment, before answering. “Do you think you can use it as a material?”  
“We’re trying that, currently. But if it works… I’m going to build an engine out of it, and I’d like your help doing it.”  
“I’m not an engineer.”  
He laughed. “Neither am I, technically! But getting out of this plane might be possible after all.”  
“But it’s your job to be finding out about other planes. I’m a biologist. Why do you need my help?”  
“Davenport.”  
“Yes?”  
“In your little speech about not going to the Institute, you always mentioned how you wanted to make a connection with other living things, as opposed to dream about the theoretical.”  
He nodded.  
“Well, I’d like you to see something.” He stepped closer to the Light. “Davenport, I love you.”  
“Dad, what are you - wait, what just happened?”  
“You saw it, didn’t you? The little thread that just connected us.” His dad smiled. “I have a theory that this thing’s power comes from the connections we’ve made. Not to our theories, but from one living thing to the other. A physical bond for every emotional one.”  
“And?”  
“And… Who knows how to fly a ship and to use the connection between living things to do good other than you?”  
“Wait.” He shook his head. “You want me to help you use this to go through planes.”  
“Yes, though you’re saying it vaguely.” He laughed. “I want you to make a ship with this light - it could look like a sailor’s boat for all I care - and fly it across the planes.”  
“What about school?”  
“After this, you won’t need it!” He smiled, though it seemed sadder this time. “Delilah told me you wanted to be on the team.”  
“I was half-joking, but Dad?”  
“Yeah?”  
“If it’ll make you happy, I’ll do it.”  
“Thank you - hey! Did you see that thread again? Barry, come write this down!”

**Author's Note:**

> God, writing kid Davenport was fun.
> 
> Also, Davenport and Delilah are really good sibling names? I'm really proud of that one, though while I did it on purpose I don't think his parents did in this story. Delilah's like, a good 8 years older than him, and they didn't realize it until later!  
> And the thought of having Davenport's dad hire baby intern Barry Bluejeans is so good.... He's definitely still in like. high school when he gets to intern at the Institute, though, and it's through that internship that he gets accepted to the school!
> 
> But to clarify the timeline (gnomes mature at the same rate humans do):  
> -Baby Dav isn't older than like. 7 or 8, but he could be as young as 5 or 4  
> -Dav and Merle are freshmen at the Academy of Physical and Biological Sciences that's connected to the Institute, so he's about 18 then.  
> -The other two scenes take place days apart, but are much, much later than the first two - he was slightly younger than 100 when he left, probably, and the Hunger came a year after the Light first dropped!
> 
> Hope that helps~


End file.
